Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/160

 forced to dress as a clown, and tickle a dull crowd to laughter for a sustenance, exclaims:—

"Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, And almost thence my nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer's hand."

Lifting heavy objects, sweeping, washing, scrubbing, when long continued, and especially during growth, destroy the admired shape and elegant contour. The hand of little use not only has the daintier touch but the daintier form; the fingers are round and tapering, the joints are small, the skin smooth, the lines shallow. In the words of Ariosto, it is:—

"Lunghetta alquanto e di larghezza angusta."

Compare such a one with the hand of a washer-*woman, and note how beauty wins through idleness. Does the game pay for the candle? Ah! that is a serious question, which each must decide for herself.

Even the lighter employments deform, to some extent, this complex member. In writing, if the pen is held awkwardly, or in a cramped position, it will soon leave a slight disfigurement. A too small thimble will distort the finger tips. Rings are often left on the fingers until they are half buried in a deep crease, and it is next to impossible to remove them. The arm should be elevated and the finger soaked in ice-water for ten or fifteen minutes, then immediately anointed with glycerine, and the ring slipped off. If this fails, the finger should be very tightly wrapped in fine,